Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-09-07
JANETS MARTYRDOM.
Written for this paper


she would have looked al you with wonder in
her wide open violet eyes, but she could not
have answered, and yet her life was one and
she was living It out a. page after page of her
pure, unself1sh life unfolded, and those who
could read 1t were nobler and better for the
lesson. Janet had been born in q little old
red school house where her parents had taken
shelter when their own house burned down,
and her first breath had been embaluoed with
the sweet odor Of lilac flowers and the white
locust blossoms that bloomed above theschoOl
house windows ....'-. -.. .-.-. -.
Her cradle had been an upturned bench and
her covering q shawl left by some kindly
neighbCr. but she came into the world with q
smile on her lips, and though poverty was her
portion, she was received as blessing by her
young parents, whose first and only child she
was.
Her mothers name was Lois, and her
fathers Eliphalet, and she was called Janet
after her fathers mother. The young couple
had begun life with little. A stony hill farm
such as Pennsylvania only produces, little
COW, lean and eternally hungry Zig and a
lew household goods in their tiny two roomed
house, and these were all their worldly pos
session.
All the week the young husband worked on
his farm or for his neighbors to paw for the
use Of their horses and plows which prepared
the stony soil for the crops so grudgingiy be-
slowed by nature In the fall
Lois, his wife, was known for miles around
a. the best spinner for fine fax and lambs
wool, and the farmers wives and village
women sent their softest heeces and whitest
dax for her nimble fingers to Irvine into yarn
for socks for baby's tender feet, or thread for
the "best linen" for their daughters outfits.
and In return she had all such stuff ss the
farmers wives have to sell, and the spinning
wheel hummed merry song as the young
wife sat dreaming of her future, and dainty
little set Of baby clothes lay folded in a
drawer all ready for the blessed promise the
spring was to bring to her.
Then, one night, cry Of fire, great fear,
and one short hours devastation, and they
were homeless and destitute, and there was
no refuge but the old red school house, and
little Janet came to take her life burden up,
Eliphalet Downing gave way to despair,
but his sweet wife did not. Their COW was
dead, and 80 they were, as she said, free from
care, and she proposed to go and work on a
farm with her baby, while be went to another
and worked there They could meet Sun
days, and their necessity made that seem the
best thing for them to do, and four long wears
f~~~~ o0AOA0 ohCy Suuiu again JOIN fortunes
and build house over the ashes Of the old
one People were good to them, and every
woman in that valley sent something to help
the young couple to start anew, and so thew
began again. Both worked with all their
hearts and strength, and finally they were
able when Janet was 10 years old to build a
barn to keep their horses and two cows in and
rtore their grain in. though, to be sure. they
had not very much, as part of their land
was greasy bog and part a stony hill.
The neighbors from far and near gathered
to help in the barn raising, and Lois, assisted
by Janet and several women from adjacent
FARMS had prepared a substantial dinner,
which was set out under the maple trees for
the men, who were working with a will, tug
ging and lifting the huge beams into place,
for barn in those days was made to last
Just as the dinner horn sounded a rope
tlipned and great beam fell from the roof
end two men went down under it. When it
Vas lifted they found one man with two
Droken legs and Eliphalet Downing with his
skull crushed in, and he was dead before they
lifted him.
Lois and Janet took up the burden of life
alone, when the last words had been said and
the last morsel taken from the untouched table,
and they tried hard to bear up under the
blow that had struck so heavily on their
hearts The barn was finished and the stock
housed in it, and in little while everything
seemed the same to the negbbors, but not so
to these two desolate ones.
The mother, though she tried hard to work
with her accustomed energy, grew feebler
and feebler, and Janet unconsc iously grew
into her mothers place. 1t was Janet who
milked, who fed the cattle and did the
chores, and overlooked everything; who SUI
perintended the labors Of the hired man. and
who spun, wove, cooked and planned diver
siOns for her mother, and before she was 16
she was looked upon as "notable person"
and first class manager, for under her man.
agement, il the farm did not actually prosper,
at least it did not fall behind, and when over
three-fourths Of the farms around her were
mortgaged, hers was free of debt, and they
lived in comfort.
But Janet had little time for education and
still less for love making, and though her
pretty, wavy, golden hair. her sweet face and
lovely violet eyes and plump figure attracted
the admiration Of many Of the young men
about, she bestowed not one thought upon
them. She lived for her mother and worked
for her, and was only happy when she could
win a smile from that sad heart. She had
10 room for any love but that for her mother.
and she was content and always cheerful at
her work.
But the neighbors used to shake their heads
and say:
at is wonderful that she don't seem to no
tice. 1t is plain enough to everybody, but
she has never suspicioned," and more like it,
but jamie always thought her mothers failing
memory was due to i'll health and her MANY
curious freaks as the result Of her years of
grief.
At last the fact was borne in uron her
Her mother was insane. Not violent-shc
would never be that in all human proba-
bility-but, nevertheless, insane
This was terrible grief for jamie when
she once accepted 1t Is fact, and then with
her usual energy she began to try to find a
cure for It, for she thought it must be a cura-
BILE disease, at least when the patient was her
own mother.
She sent for the doctor she had known all
her life, and he told her there was no hope,
In pity for her white grief he said be would
bring friend Of his 10 see her; that it might
possibly do some good, as the science of medi.
cine was always improving, ETC., etc, and
then with that one faint gleam OF hope he
left her to bring Dr. Carroll down.
Dr. Carroll was the only son Of the wealthy
family that lived in the big white house on